HOOGTIJ/laagtij dag 7

Festival

Sibran Sampers (18:00-21:00)
Rituals and animals: equally traditional as controversial. Sibran Sampers delves into ‘Tripudiometrie’ and ‘Vogelwichelarij’: a Roman-Etruscan soothsaying method based on the behaviour of poultry. During 3 consecutive days the visitor can take part in a personal sessions with predicting quails under the watchful eye of the artist.
Borokov Borokov video opnames (18:00-22:00)
Borokov Borokov concert (23:00)
Titles such as ‘Los Bollen’, ‘Dansende mensen’ and ‘Drankjes’ are open solicitation to participate in the festival about festivities. But before the real festivity starts, work has to be done. In the early evening they record and film the videoclip of ‘Drankjes’, almost as a performance. Later on, they enjoy themselves with their crazy-ass electronica set in the ruins of their backdrop.
Nienke Baeckelandt (18:00-00:00)
During HOOGTIJ/laagtij Nienke Baeckelandt lifts her performance ‘SNIP IT’ to metaphysical heights. Ten days long she locks herself in an atelier, armed with paper, scissors and a headphone that conducts the rhythm of her action.
Rutger de Vries (21:00)
The in-situ work of Rutger de Vries gives HOOGTIJ/laagtij a solemn allure. He constructed a splendid ‘paint chandelier’, which he sparks every day at precisely 21h in the entrance hall.


HOOGTIJ/laagtij
During the yearly citywide craze, Gouvernement pays tribute to the “Homo Festivus” and “celebrating” as such. HOOGTIJ/laagtij is a festival within a festival, a scaled-down metaphor for a city on the verge of insanity. An invitation to both total surrender and sobering reflection.
Around twenty artists have been invited as the Masters of Ceremony of this 10 day-festival. They are commissioned with the task of immersing the audience into their idea of jubilation, transcendence and related rituals. Their daily actions ignite from a visual, theatrical or musical spark and draw on well-founded ceremonial heritage. Just as well, interventions are flagrant, nonsensical bursts of euphoria & decadence.
All actions leave specific, physical traces all over the Gouvernement-site. These will eventually lead to the formation of a ‘Gesammtkunstwerk’ and become a visual guideline for a reconstructive exhibition in the aftermath of the festival (27-30.07).
Forensic investigations reach a final stage with the release of publication by Jelle Martens and Raimundas Malašauskas (autumn 2017).
*with the support of Vooruit, Stad Gent & Vlaamse Gemeenschap


“The necessity for reversal is so important that it had, at one time, its consecration: there is no constitution of society which does not have, on the other hand, the challenging of its foundations; rituals show it: the saturnalias or festivals of madmen reversed the roles.”
Georges Bataille, Inner Experience (1943)
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PROGRAM HOOGTIJ/laagtij
14.07
18:00-00:00: Nienke Baeckelandt
18:00-00:00: De Zwarte Zuster Fanfare
21:00: Rutger Devries
23:00: Pieter Ampe
15.07
18:00-00:00: Nienke Baeckelandt
21:00: Rutger Devries
22:00: Matthieu HA ‘Bomenklok’
23:00: van Twolips
16.07
18:00-00:00: Nienke Baeckelandt
21:00: Rutger Devries
23:00: Charlotte Adigéry & Nicole Twister
17.07
18:00-00:00: Nienke Baeckelandt
21:00: Rutger Devries
22:00: Bert Jacobs
23:00: Gamelan Voices
18.07
18:00-00:00: Nienke Baeckelandt
21:00: Rutger Devries
23:00: Sachli Gholamalizad & Sebastiaan Van den Branden
19.07
18:00-00:00: Nienke Baeckelandt
18:00-21:00: Sibran Sampers
21:00: Rutger Devries
23:00: Kim Snauwaert & Anyuta Wiazemsky
20.07
18:00-00:00: Nienke Baeckelandt
18:00-21:00: Sibran Sampers
21:00: Rutger Devries
18:00-22:00: Borokov Borokov video opnames
23:00: Borokov Borokov concert
21.07
18:00-00:00: Nienke Baeckelandt
18:00-21:00: Sibran Sampers
21:00: Rutger Devries
23:00: Lotte Vanhamel
22.07
18:00-00:00: Nienke Baeckelandt
21:00: Rutger Devries
23:00: Micha Volders & Jaak De Digitale
23.07
18:00-00:00: Nienke Baeckelandt
21:00: Rutger Devries
23:00: Joris Van De Moortel